


Expermentation

by MageOuniverse



Category: Original Story
Genre: Adoption?, Depression', Man Hunt, Mentions of Suicide, Original Story - Freeform, Other, Police, Siblings, Violence, anger issues, extreme violence, if you wanna make fanart for me ill post it with new chapters, illegal experiments, kidnap, lol im bad at tags, please dont steal content
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-23
Updated: 2017-05-23
Packaged: 2018-11-04 03:27:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10982388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MageOuniverse/pseuds/MageOuniverse
Summary: At the age of 4 years old, Casey and her older brother Dakota(age 12) were both orphaned in a car wreck on the way to school. After growing up in several foster homes, Dakota at the age of 18 adopted his little sister and got them an apartment in the slums of New York City. With no one to miss them, they became targets of an underground institute of science, and were kidnapped on the eve of christmas. Now 26 year old Dakota and 18 year old Casey were used to perform genetic expermients. After Dakota saves Casey's life with a bargain, Casey hunts for her big brother and the illusive institute. Will she ever find him? What new friends and enemies will she make along the way? Or is this all even real...?





	1. Prolouge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will be posting a chapter very Tuesday if any of you were wondering, so that's when you should expect the next chapter

“Whaddya mean you ‘don't know’?!” Casey shouted into the phone. 

“Casey, relax I-” the man on the other end started, but was quickly shut down by the green eyed red head. 

“No! No, Jason, I won’t relax! You said you would know where he was by now!” Casey gripped the steering wheel of her onyx ford focus tightly under her palms as she tried to regain her composure. 

“I know what I said Casey, but you have to calm down or you know what’ll happen!” Jason replied through his speaker. Casey beeped her horn a few times, her patience for the heavy New York traffic dwindling. 

Casey inhaled deeply, focusing on controlling the subtle shifting of her muscles which were rippling beneath her skin. She didn't need the distraction of morphing now! Once she had calmed, her heart slowing to its normal rate, she replied. “Yeah, alright. I’m good.” the redhead mumbled softly over the phone, having brought her boiling rage down to a simmer. There was a moment of silence before her companion replied. 

“Good, now don’t interrupt me, woman!” he ordered with a slight chuckle, bringing the tiniest of smiles to the 19-year-old’s lips.”I am working on finding him, Cas. I promise you that. You understand that I am trying my best right? I even have two of my old friends from the FEDs on the case!” Casey’s smile widened, but it didn't last very long. 

“But you haven’t found anything? Any traces of his whereabouts? Any leads?” The girl heard her friend sigh over the phone, and he was very quiet when he replied. 

“No, Casey, I haven’t got any traces on your brother, or the association who took him. I really am sorry, you know.” When Casey didn’t reply, Jason spoke up again. “I’ll keep you posted, little lady, but I gotta go. I’ll talk to ya soon.”

And just like that, Jason hung up. Casey listened to the dull beeping of the phone for a moment, before she shut her own phone off and placed it in the cup holder. She honked her horn a few times again, weakly, and fought back tears. The man in the car in front of her rolled down his window and stuck his head out, turning and glaring back at her. 

“Shut up, lady! Geez!” he shouted as he flipped her the bird.

“Maybe I will if you realize you can move up 30 feet!” Casey shouted out of her window back at him. The man looked ahead of his car, only to see that there was, in fact, space for him to move.The man glared daggers at her one last time, before pulling up to his max limit in the ridiculous bumper-to-bumper traffic.”Maybe if you stopped playing candy crush for ten minutes, I wouldn’t have to honk in the first place.” She mumbled under her breath, glad for the distraction because now the threat of tears was gone. 

Casey glanced at the clock, and upon seeing the time, she dropped her head onto the edge of her steering wheel rather harshly. “Dang it…” she sighed “Joe is gonna kill me…” She muttered. It was 8:45, and her shift at the Starbucks on town square started at 7:30. Casey could now only hope that the older man was in a good mood today, or didn’t notice her absence.

By the time Casey got to the Starbucks near the Empire State Building, it was 9:11. The girl put on her green apron and name tag, as well as her little starbucks hat, hoping she could slip by and clock in unnoticed. 

However, apparently she did something to anger the gods of sneaking-past-bosses because as soon as she went to take a lady’s order, her co-worker, Nathan, approached her with a smirk. 

“I’ll handle this, sweet stuff.” He flirted, “The boss needs ya in the back.” He winked at her and Casey rolled her eyes. 

The lady across the counter tapped her foot impatiently and crossed her arms. “Hey, can I order please. I am late already!” 

Nathan glared at the customer briefly. “Yeah, alright lady I get it. Casey here was late too, so relax while she leaves.” 

Casey sighed and ran a hand through her hair, walking off with a curt nod, letting out an undignified yelp when Nathan delivered a firm smack to Casey’s rear upon her departure. Clenching her fists, and restraining herself from beating her fellow worker to a bloody pulp, Casey walked hurriedly to her Boss’s office in the back of the store. She didn't want to keep the man waiting, after all she was already in trouble for her tardiness during morning rush hour… 

When she arrived at Joe’s office, she was greeted by a stern look and a flat tone. “Have a seat Ms. Willows.” he announced upon her arrival. 

Crap… She thought. Joe Nelson was usually on a first-name-basis with everyone, unless they were in real deep trouble. The redhead cringed and nodded, placed herself in a chair in front of his desk. 

“Yessir…” Casey spoke respectfully, needing this job almost as much as she needed air. If she lost it, she couldn't pay rent, pay her electricity and water bills, buy food, or anything else to cover her basic partially-human needs.

“Ms. Willows, do you want to explain to me the reason why you were late today?” Joe asked with a grim expression on his face. Casey inhaled and folded her hands in her lap, not meeting Joe’s eye. He wasn’t only her boss; the two had history together, he had practically adopted her when she was thrown onto the streets after all.

“I was on a call with Jason, sir. I lost track of time, and got stuck in morning rush traffic.” Casey didn't need that last bit though, because as soon as she stated that she was on a call with Jason, Joe’s expression softened. He knew who Jason was, what he did, and how he was helping Casey find her brother. After all, he was the one who had introduced her to the man. He also knew how important finding Dakota was to her. He knew that it had been a rough year and a half for her without her brother. 

“Any news?” He questioned, his eyes now warm and kind instead of stoney and stern. Casey shook her head mutely, not trusting herself enough not to cry if she spoke. “I’m sure we will find him soon, Cas. Jason never drops a case until it is solved.” Casey nodded once again and dismissed herself, pressing the heels of her hands into her eyes to erase the immediate threat of tears. After she composed herself, she walked out and pushed Nathan out of the way in order for her to take over at the counter thinking that today was gonna be a normal day.

Oh how wrong she was.  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


	2. The Experiment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One year earlier from the prolouge... Casey didn't know how long she had been in this cell in the dark, holding her brother's hand between the bars. She had no idea of what was to come, or even if she'd live to see the light of day again......

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is currently on Hiatus while i try and figure my life out lol. I have a few chapters of what i've already gotten written, but i don't have as much inspiration for this anymore, and have been on and off for about 3 years now haha. if you have any suggestions go ahead and comment down below. This fic is also available on my Wattpad account @XxthebrokenheartsxX and on my weebly page www.playwritewords.weebly.com be sure to check it out!

Casey sighed and leaned against the cool, rusty bars of her cell, her skinny frame shivering in the frigid and damp air of the corridor where her cell was located. Her brother, Dakota, was across the hall in another cell, his arm stuck through the bars like Casey’s. His hand was warm in Casey’s palm, the contact of their sibling’s flesh comforting to both of the soon-to-be experiments. 

Casey looked over her shoulder at her older brother, the tiniest of smiles appearing on her lips. Dakota wasn't anything special. Just your typical 26 year old kid; all dusty blonde hair and bright blue eyes. He was not short by any means, with his stature of 5’11”, and was well built with broad shoulders and biceps that shown when he flexed from years of being on the school wrestling team. 

In short, he looked nothing like Casey. If you were to place them side by side, you wouldn't be able to tell that they came from the same parents. Casey was short with her own stature of 5’2”, having not quite hit that teen-years growth spurt that would help her grow into her baby fat. She had auburn red hair, and dull green eyes. At peak health, she was thick, and she was happy right where she was at. “I need space to store all this sass.” She always told people when they tried to comment about her size, though her size didn't stop many people, man or woman, from hitting on her. She was beautiful in her own way.

Her brother loved her no matter what though, and would do anything for his baby sister. The feeling was obviously mutual.

The pair suddenly heard footsteps echoing down the hallway, and pulled their hands apart. Casey whimpered and scrambled to the back wall of her cell, trying to put as much distance between her and the new additions to the group; Three men approached her cell, the leader obviously being the scientist in the lab coat. He had icy blue eyes and dark black hair. He was young, and his features held a slight crazed look. The insanity seemed to have been with him a long while, and it scared both of the Willows siblings. 

His goons were the ones to accompany him. The two looked like they had come straight from prison, scars, tattoos and all. The one to his left was about 6'4", with a shiney bald head, crooked yellow teeth with the front left tooth chipped in half. He had a long, jagged scar from the middle of his left eyebrow across the bridge of his nose all the way down to the corner of his jaw on the right side of his face. He had a teardrop tattoo under his left eye, his eyes so dark they looked like pits of tar in his face.... they looked..... Inhuman....

The other one didn't look much different other than he had a corn rows, dark cocoa skin, and it looked like his jaw had been broken more than once, and was crooked to the right side, with a scar over his left eye, the orb cloudy and gray, showing he was blind in that eye. But unlike the grimace on his buddy's face, he was wearing a chilling smile, showing off teeth so cracked, you'd be surprised that they were even still in his mouth.

The scientist pulled out a key ring, and unlocked the door to Casey’s cell, quickly barking an order to thing one and thing two.

“Tony, Jake, grab her. Don’t harm her, but don't let her get away.” So that's what they were called. Jake was the white man with the scarred face, and Tony was the other one with the broken jaw and chilling grin. The two men grunted a response and quickly closed in on the poor, terrified girl. 

“No! Don’t you dare touch her you filthy little..” Dakota shouted with some pretty colorful language, and lurched forward. He snagged the scientist, whose coat held no nametag, and pulled him against the bars, holding him by the collar of his lab coat.

“I swear to god, if you hurt a hair on my baby sister’s head, I will murder you myself with a rusty knife.” he threatened just before Tony rushed over and pulled the doctor free, punching Dakota in the jaw, making him stumble back. In all the commotion, the scientist had dropped his wallet, the leather pouch falling open to reveal a picture of two young men, one of them being the unnamed scientist himself and the other being some other man who closely resembled him. Casey couldn't help but notice this small detail, and while she didn't think it important, her brain stored the memory away, probably to be forgotten. The man huffed and brushed himself off before he bent down and picked up said wallet, simply smirking and straightening his lab coat after tucking it away in his pocket.

“You are a great specimen, Mr.Willows. Keep that fight in you, you’re gonna need it.” he commented with a dark chuckle, glancing at Jake who had Casey in a vice grip while the smaller girl struggled. 

“Get off me!” she screamed, her voice echoing within the corridor. “Get off me! Let me go!” The girl whimpered, her eyes wild with fright. “Dakota!” she exclaimed, her free arm reaching out. Her brother grabbed ahold of her hand as she was being dragged away, giving it a squeeze.

“Don’t worry! I’ll get us out of this, Cas. I promise!” he told her in a brave voice, staying strong for his sister as thier hands were broken apart and he watched her disappear with the loud screech of rusty hinges and the slam of an iron door behind her. 

Casey still fought once the door was sealed and locked, the girl struggling desperately as she tried to get back to her only remaining family. She kicked at Jake, landing a blow on his shin which made his grip loosen enough for her to shake free. She dashed back to the door, but before she could get it open, Tony grabbed the back of her shirt and yanked her back. 

“Oh no ya don’t.” he growled in her ear, the tone of his voice making a shiver of fear go down her spine.

“Get off me!” she shrieked, “Let me go!” Casey shouted, fighting harder than before, adrenaline pumping through her veins. 

“Give her a small tranquilizer. I can’t have my specimen getting herself hurt right before the experiment, now can I?” The unnamed scientist spoke, speaking as if this was all a joke. A sick, twisted game to him.

Immediately, a nurse rushed over with a small syringe, injecting the small dose into the artery on the side of the red head’s neck. The dose was so small that Casey would burn it off in only a matter of minutes, but give the scientist and his minions enough time to secure her in the testing chamber. Casey’s cries and struggles were soon silenced as the drug kicked in, making her vision go fuzzy before darkening completely. 

Tony hefted the girl over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. 

“Careful with her!” the Scientist ordered. “For the time being, she and her brother are the only specimens we have. We need to treat them with the best of care.” 

Tony rolled his eyes and wondered what 'the best of care' meant to that scientist, becayse this girl was practically a skeleton, barely clinging to life, but nodded anyways. He was the boss after all. “Yes boss.” He grunted in his thick Brooklyn accent. The trio walked down several corridors in the hidden facility before finally arriving at the testing chamber. Tony laid Casey down on the floor in the middle of a metal platform in the center of the room. He left and one of the assistants pressed a button from the control room that sealed the section of the wall that opened into a hidden door. 

Casey woke a few minutes later, groaning softly. Her mouth felt like it was full of cotton, and the room seemed to be spinning. Her voice, in her mind, echoed and was muffled like she was listening to herself underwater. “W-Where am I?” she slurred groggily. “Dakota?” Casey got up on shaky legs and stumbled a few steps before falling to her knees unsteadily. She took a moment to regain her bearings, and surveyed the room. It was a square room, and was a blinding snow-white color. The kind of white that makes all other whites look like a yellow color. It was making her white asylum-like attire look a rather unappealing shade of mustard. The only think out of place was the one wall that was a solid mirror. However, this wall wasn’t just a mirror, she could tell. It was one-way-glass like was in the questioning room at a police station. She had come across more than one of those in her troubled childhood. What she didn't know was that on the other side of said one-way glass was a control room, where a team of scientists and engineers resided to control the experiment, exit to the chamber she was in, and shut it down the procedure if necessary. 

Casey did a double take when she saw herself in the mirror. That couldn’t be her….. Could it? The girl she saw in her reflection was scrawny to the point that you could see the faint outline of bones through her skin. Her hair was matted and filthy, and the originally white clothing that the facility gave her was stained and dirty. It made her really wonder how long her brother and her had been locked back in those dark, dirty cells with limited meals and drinks. Her green eyes were clouded with fear and surprise, and Casey wanted to cry. She nearly screamed with fright as a voice came over the intercom so loud it made her ears ring. 

“Hello, Casey Willows. Welcome to the New York Science Center’s testing chamber. We apologize for any inconvenience the tests may cause, but we thank you for your cooperation. This is the one and only time you will ever see this room, and the tests will be over soon. Thank you.” The voice clicked off and Casey began to panic, the feeling ice-cold and heavy in the pit of her stomach. 

Cooperation? Casey thought first, scoffing. This was against her will! She wasn't cooperating! Then, Casey thought fearfully, 'Testing chamber?!' They were gonna experiment on her like a lab-rat! 

She stood a second time, and scrambled to the wall, scrabbling against its smooth surface in search of a switch that would reveal an exit. However, she is stopped in her tracks as a blinding blue light began emitting from a sphere in the center of the circle platform she was on moments ago. Casey was unsure of how it got there, but was too scared for her life to worry about that now. The ball started growing tentacles, and four of them lurched forward, lashing around Casey’s limbs. 

Casey shrieked, and thrashed, but the strands held a strong vice-grip. She was pulled towards the sphere, which along with the tentacles was white-hot and burned into her being like a white-hot branding iron. Her screams echoed throughout the chamber, and it felt like her very soul was being enveloped into flames. Her DNA was being rewritten, her bones breaking and reforming into a completely different shape. Casey heard crackling and popping, which she soon learned was her spine elongating into a tail, starting out kinked but slowly starting to straighten out. 

The pain was agonizing, and in that moment Casey wished she were dead. At least then she wouldn't have to suffer through this torture, but she had to endure for Dakota. If she died, who knows where that would leave him emotionally. Her ears moved to the top of her head, and her nose and mouth grew into a muzzle. She slowly started to feel thick fur sprout from her pores, and then the light disappeared, dropping her to the floor with a thud. 

The half-formed wolf whimpered, laying limp on the floor.

Just as suddenly as the light disappeared, the sphere returned, now an angry red color, enveloping Casey once more. She felt herself solidifying, and with her sharper senses heard through the glass: 

“Shut it down! Something is interfering with the program! Shut it down!” 

The red sphere lashed out with tentacles that were so hot, they felt cold against Casey’s skin. Wolf-Casey yelped and let out barks of agony, and the light disappeared again, only this time it didn’t get back. Now, Casey laid on the ground as a wolf, except she wasn’t fully formed. Her muzzle held an expression of a permanent half-snarl, and one eye was unable to open. Her left ear was crooked and bent inside out, and her tail was kinked in three places. Along with that, her right hind leg didn’t quite meet the ground, and there were bare patches of skin in some places. Casey’s chest heaved and her vision blurred in and out of focus in the one eye that she had open, and all she could do was whimper. 

Casey felt herself morphing shape again, only this time it wasn't painful. The only pain she had was now the aching pain left over from the experiment itself, and the burns she had on her wrists and ankles from the sphere’s tentacles. 

The door to the chamber burst open and in rushed a team of scientist in insulated suits, so they were not affected by any remaining residue from the orb. They checked her vitals and wrote various things down on a clipboard, then they hooked her up to all sorts of wires and monitors, as well as an IV drip. 

They lifted her onto a stretcher, and that was when Casey blacked out.

~*~*~*~*~  
Casey woke up a few hours later in a hospital room after being trapped in horrifying nightmares that only her mind could create after the horrors she endured. She blinked open bleary eyes only to find that she had an oxygen mask strapped to her nose, and her brother sitting in a chair beside her bed, holding her hand with one of his. His other hand was handcuffed to the chair he was sitting in, and he smiled a bit when he saw she was awake. It was quite obvious he was relieved. 

“Heya, Cas.” he greeted in a husky voice. His eyes were red rimmed, an obvious sign he was crying. “How’re you feeling?” Dakota asked gently, and suddenly Casey was crying.

“It hurt.. it hurt so, so bad, Dakota.” she whimpered, her voice muffled through the oxygen mask and her tears running fat and wet down her cheeks. Dakota leaped into action, his only freehand moving from her hand to start brushing the tears off her cheeks. 

“I know, Cas. I know… It’s alright, they aren't gonna hurt you anymore,I promise.” Dakota wished he could just hold his sister and comfort her properly, but he couldn’t due to his restraints. “Don’t cry, Cas… I’m here. They aren't ever gonna hurt you again.”

Casey took a shaky breath, and the tears kept streaming, “H-How do you know Dakota? We are stuck here, and you don’t know what else they are gonna do!” She protested as sobs continually wracked her body, making her shoulders shake and her throat ache. 

“No, Cas. I am stuck here. Not you. I made a deal…. Not one that I am a 100% sure you will like..” 

Casey looked at him, and her heart skipped a beat. He did something to get her out without him? Of course she wasn’t gonna like that! “What did you do, Dakota? You know I can’t just leave you here! How do you expect me to do that after finding out what they are gonna do to you?” 

Dakota looked down at the ground and his voice was firm when he now spoke. “Casey, you are leaving here without me. That is the decision I have made. As far as what I promised them in return…” He trailed off. “First, I want you to know that they were gonna….” Dakota swallowed thickly around the lump that formed in his throat as if what he was about to say physically caused him immeasurable pain. “They were gonna kill you, Casey.” he choked out. “And I did what I did to save you. To get you out I promised that I would cooperate without struggle in some tests…. One of which they tried on you.”

Casey’s heart seemed to stop, and she nearly forgot to breathe. “ Dakota, you did not do that.” No response. “Dakota, you didn’t.” No response. “Dakota why would you do that?! Let them use you as some kind of labrat just to get me out! You-” This time Casey got a response, but it was not gentle like Dakota’s words were before. 

“It isn’t just getting you out, Casey! You're my baby sister and-” He shouted, taking breath. “I promised mom, Cas.” Dakota’s gentle tone returned and he was crying as he stared at the floor. “You wouldn’t remember the wreck because you were only 4 years old- real little… We got in a wreck a month after Easter, and- and i held mom’s hand as she died. Dad was already gone… and-” He stopped again for a brief moment. “Mom called out to me, so I managed to climb into the front seat with her. I grabbed her hand, and she pulled me down so I could hear her better.. She didn’t want me to miss a word that she had to say…”

\---------------

It had been a normal day. Casey had been the one to wake everyone up with her energetic persona, jumping on her parent’s bed to wake them before running down the hall and doing the same for her brother Dakota. It was 7:30-- the usual time for her to do this so Dakota wasn’t late to school, and her father, George, wasn’t late to work. “Dakota!” the toddler squealed happily as she bounced at the foot of his bed, effectively making him slip off the edge of the mattress. Dakota let out an undignified yelp as he landed on the floor with a thud and yawned tiredly. Maybe he shouldn’t have been up so late working on his project…

“Morning, Cas…” He greeted as he got up. 

Casey giggled “Mommy and Daddy are down stairs and- Oh, Dakota, guess what day it is!” The little girl rambled. He raised an eyebrow and smiled a little, his little sister’s happy demeanor rubbing off on him.

“What?” 

Casey giggled again. “the day that Daddy said he is gonna make dino-pancakes for breakfast!” 

Dakota stood, stretched and grinned. “Well let’s not keep them waiting then, huh?” The 12-year-old replied as he lifted his sister up, balancing her on his hip. 

Casey nodded enthusiastically and they headed down stairs, the little red-head babbling on to her brother about the dream she had last night. “I rode on the back of a pop-tart cat and I lived in a giant cupcake with buddy. You were there too, except you lived in a giant pizza box and you had a money-cat who you called dough and-” Casey finally looked up from the hole in Dakota’s shirt that she was messing with when her father chuckled, placing two plates with dinosaur-shaped pancakes on the table.

“Morning little bird.” Her father greeted, placing a kiss on her forehead as Dakota set her in her booster-chair.

“Morning daddy.” She replied before going back on with her tale about her candy-land dream. 

George ruffled Dakota’s blonde hair and smiled. “Morning, Kiddo." he exclaimed before getting the syrup out of the cabinet and putting it on the table for his children to use. Casey’s Mom, Marsha, was seated at the table beside Casey, cutting her pancakes into bite-sized pieces.

“Morning, Dad.” Dakota replied with a smile before digging into the meal. 

Marsha smiled and Casey started to pick up small bits of pancakes with her hands, eating them as she continued to tell her story to no one in particular. Marsha stood with the help of George, having a hard time due to her rather large belly. That belly contained Casey and Dakota’s soon-to-be little brother. “Good morning, Dakota. How’s your project going, sweetheart?” Marsha asked as she walked over and gave her eldest child a kiss on the forehead.

“Morning, Mom. It’s going fine…” His mother raised her eyebrows and sighed.

“You were up all night again weren’t you?” Dakota nodded sheepishly and crammed a big bite of pancakes into his mouth. Casey giggled at his puffed up cheeks and did the same, cramming many of the small pieces into her mouth so she had ‘chipmunk cheeks’. Marsha shook her head and looked at Casey. “Smaller bites, sweetie. I don’t want you to choke.” 

Casey swallowed and pointed at her brother. “But he did it!” She exclaimed.

“You too, Dakota.” Marsha scolded. “You two eat like you haven't seen a crumb since the day you were born.” 

Dakota smirked and swallowed his mouthful. “I am 8 years older than her, so I am starving and get to take bigger bites.” 

Marsha rolled her eyes and looked at him. “I’d understand if you actually were starving, but you aren’t so your argument is invalid.” She replied. Dakota pouted, but said nothing more as he shoved pancake pieces in his mouth. Breakfast proceeded as usual and Casey ended up having syrup all over her hands and on her shirt. Once she was dressed and cleaned up, everyone loaded into the car to take Dakota to school, Casey to preschool and both parents to work at an accounting firm. Casey squealed and giggled in her car seat as her brother made silly faces at her, and Marsha couldn’t help but look back and smile to herself at the beauty of her own children. They were just driving through a green light when everyone’s morning went south. A drunk driver slammed into the side of the truck, killing George instantly and the cars skidded across the street and ended up in a ditch. Marsha had a gash on her head and a large piece of glass in her abdomen, where her unborn child was blood seeping out of the wound and onto her shirt. Dakota’s leg ached, and he knew he had broken it. Casey luckily had only hit her head on the side of her carseat and was unconscious, nothing more than a few bumps and bruises on her. The whole left side of the car was indented,especially on the front, and Dakota almost threw up because of the state he saw his father in…. He managed to drag himself to the edge of the seat and reached towards his mother, who was breathing… but only barely. 

“Mom… Mom, we have to go we have-” he coughed and choked back a sob. He hadn’t realized he was crying.

“D-Dakota…” Marsha murmured, her eyes hazy and unfocused. 

Dakota grabbed her hand and squeezed. “Mom? Mom it’s okay, don’t talk. You’ll wear yoursel-”

Marsha cut him off weakly and gave a faint squeeze to her son’s hand. “Dakota, I want you to do something for me.” Her voice was so soft, and she pulled Dakota close so that he would hear everything she had to say. “Dakota… Take care of your sister… she’s all you have left now. You have to make sure she is safe or…” Marsha’s voice had been getting fainter and fainter and then it died out in the middle of a word. Of a sentence. 

“Mom? Mom, no. You can’t leave me.” the boy shook his mother’s shoulder gently, hoping- no praying that his mother would just open her eyes and be okay again. That they all could be okay again. But his whims could not be played out. His mother was gone in the middle of a sentence…..

\------------

Casey found herself crying again. Dakota had never told her what had really happened to their parents.. He had just said that they died, and that they loved her very much- both parts of the truth. But not all of it. Never all of it. And now she knew. 

“She told me to keep you safe. She was right when she said you were all I had left because when I lost mom and dad that day, my whole world fell apart… but then there was you, breathing and unconscious in that car seat like an oasis of red hair and green eyes, and I knew I had to do what mom said no matter what. Even if it cost me my life.” Dakota went quiet, and all was silent in that little hospital room other than the steady beeping of the machines Casey was hooked up too and the irregular hiccups of Casey herself, sniffling and choking back sobs because if her brother could be strong, so could she. She had to be strong for him. She couldn’t let him down that easy…

The silence was broken by the creak of a door opening and the gruff voice of Jake. “Alright, kid. Time’s up. Let’s go.” 

Casy looked up with a tear streaked face and panicked eyes. “Wha- No, don’t take him. Please take me instead. Test more on me!” she pleaded, more tears leaking out of her face in hot, fat, wet drops. “Don’t test on him, let him go. Please I’ll-”

“Casey shut up.” Dakota’s voice was harsher than he had ever spoken to his sister before, and one single tear streaked his cheek as he stood, Jake having undone the cuff keeping him to the chair and cuffing the boy’s free hand behind his back, while allowing Tony, who had wandered in behind his buddy, to lead the kid out. 

Casey tried to sit up, but was shoved back down by a thick, meaty hand of Jake. “No! Dakota i wo-won’t shut up! Don’t take him! Don’t touch me!” Casey screamed at the top of her lungs, and fought as much as she could with her hands cuffed to the bed as her brother was lead out of the room. Nurses rushed in and one grabbed a syringe, unscrewing the needle and injecting something into her IV stream. 

The last thing Casey saw was her brother mouthing ‘Be strong’ to her before the blackness took over once again.


	3. A Warm Hand in a Cold World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Casey woke up on the cold sidewalk in the icy rain of New York City without a trace of where her brother had been off to. What was she gonna do?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is currently on Hiatus while i try and figure my life out lol. I have a few chapters of what i've already gotten written, but i don't have as much inspiration for this anymore, and have been on and off for about 3 years now haha. if you have any suggestions go ahead and comment down below. This fic is also available on my Wattpad account @XxthebrokenheartsxX and on my weebly page www.playwritewords.weebly.com be sure to check it out!

When Casey woke up, she was in yet another new place. She wasn’t in the cell, in fact, she wasn’t even in the hospital clothes she had been in before. Now, she was wearing the clothes she had been brought to the facility in. They were a little big because she lost so much weight, but they worked. She was wearing her light blue jeans with the rips in the knees, and her brother’s West Coast High hoodie. She had stolen it from him as soon as it smelt like him, so even when he had to work nights she could get to sleep. All they could afford to live in at the time was a one bedroom apartment. Casey never really could get to sleep, so she and her brother had shared a bed instead of investing in two twin sized beds. They pretty much grew up sharing the same bed in the orphanage anywas. After all, an orphanage doesn’t give you many sleeping arrangements when it's packed full of kids….

She shivered as the sound of metal grating against metal echoed in the space she was in and suddenly there was freezing wind and rain biting at her face. This made her open her seemingly glued-shut eyes to see she was in some sort of van, and they were slowing down in an alleyway. Tony was across from her with a smirk, and all he said was, “End of the line.” before shoving her out the open side door.

Because she was still a little groggy from the antestetic, she didn’t scream. All she did was groan weakly as a thud echoed through her skull. After blacking out for a few minutes again, she was woken by the icy bite of rain soaking into her bones. She sat up, and the only warm she felt was on her forehead. She reached up and gingerly touched where she faintly remembered hitting her head when she was pushed out of the van, so when she pulled the appendage back down to find her fingers red with the kiss of blood, it didn't really surprise her.

“Ouch….” She murmured before dragging herself up off the ground, steadying herself with one hand on the rough brick wall of the alleyway. After that she put her arms around herself to try and preserve as much heat as she could and simply walked. Out of the alleyway, and along the sidewalk. 

She didn't know how long she walked for because she was too busy stuck in her own mind. Dakota couldn’t be gone. He wouldn’t allow it…. Would he? No. It must have been a messed up nightmare. Just a dream. Just a horrible dream…

Casey found herself murmuring those words under her breath over and over again, her vision fuzzy with tears for what seemed like the millionth time in the last 24 hours. At this point, walking had become a blur, and at some point she found herself in a whirlwind of movement, and then she was face first on the ground. She didn't feel anything other than the ache in her chest, and the bitter cold of the rain. She couldn't even find the strength to pick herself up and carry on, and instead, she just curled in on herself and cried. She cried and cried, and then cried some more. Distantly, she heard a door opening, and then the voice of an older woman shouting for someone called Joe.

Moments later there was another voice, this time that of a man, and footsteps and then Casey was being lifted up into a warm embrace. Everything sounded like she was submerged in water, and she felt..... disconnected. Numb. LIke she was watching this all happen from outside her body... Like this /wasn’t happening to her/. As if she were watching a movie about someone who looked like her go through the seven levels of hell.

But the feeling didn’t last long, because she was roused from her thoughts by voices murmuring amongst themselves as she was set on something soft. She cracked open her eyes to find herself in a livingroom, on a couch. An older couple, both looking like they were maybe in their late thirties or early forties, was standing a few feet away from the couch looking at her. 

Casey stared a moment before groaning with a slight cough and she tried to sit up. The woman rushed over and gently made her lay back down. "Oh no, Dear, you’ve got to lay down. You have got yourself a nasty gash on your head. We might have to take you to the doctor’s office to be sure you don’t have a concussion.” The woman brushed strands of wet hair out of Casey’s face, and glanced back at the man to ask him to get a cloth. Casey couldn’t help but feel as if she had seen the man somewhere before. 

“No-No please don’t,” The girl coughed, her throat dry and raspy. “Please don’t take me to the doctor’s. It isn’t safe, they might be there. Please, please ,Miss, I’m begging you.” Casey was gripping the woman’s wrist, and she was startled by the warmth. Were humans really that warm naturally? Why wasn’t she that warm then? Oh yeah…. the rain.

The woman jerked back to look at Casey before she could get her request out, and frowned slightly. Luckily her husband seemed to understand her request without her saying it and walked off to fulfill it. “Okay, it’s okay sweetheart. We won’t take you to the doctors, just relax.” She consoled the wounded teen. “Just breathe, we won’t take you to the hospital.”

Casey tried to do as the woman said, her eyes closing as she breathed in shaky breaths. She was so terrified right now, she didnt know what to do with herself. She wanted to scream at the sky and ask whatever god was up there watching what the fuck was going on. She wanted to break down and cry again. She wanted to laugh hysterically as she made a noose out of these stupid goddamn too-big clothes and hang herself with it. But most of all she wanted to get up and find her brother, and punch him in the face and hug him and never let him out of her sight again. Oops, she forgot about calming down. Once again, she tried to take a deep breath and calm her shaking hands. 

“‘Atta girl.” murmured a deeper voice, and then there was a cool, wet, stinging sensation against Casey’s forehead that yanked her out of her head and made her flinch. “What’s your name sweetheart?” the man from before asked before adding, “I’m Joe by the way.”

“C-Casey… Casey Willows.” She replied quietly, swallowing.  
“Well Casey, can we get you anything? Something to eat? Maybe something to drink?” Joe asked, his tone gentle and fatherly. 

Casey hadn’t realized people could be so nice either. The only nice person Casey could ever remember was Dakota. The orphanage staff and the police officers that she knew were all insensitive and bitter. “Um… May I have some water?” she asked timidly. 

“Of course. Nancy why don’t you go get her some water. I’ll take a look at her head and try and see what happened.” Joe addressed his wife, who nodded and smiled. “Alright. Behave yourself, Joe.”

The man chuckled and nodded, taking his spot on the floor where Nancy had been. “So do you remember anything?” He asked, dabbing the cut on her head. Casey grimaced and nodded slightly. “I wish I didn't remember some of the stuff I do…” Casey murmured. She glanced up to see Joe incline his head in gesture for her to start from the beginning. “I can’t tell you… You’d never believe half the stuff I’ve been through…”

“Well why don’t you try me? I’ve been known for my open-mindedness.” Joe replied gently, meeting Casey’s eyes with sincerity shining in his own. She knew from the way he looked at her that she could trust him not to deem her crazy and took a breath before beginning.

“Well it started a few months ago. M-My brother and I… We were abducted by these men and taken to a facility where we were held for months… I don’t know exactly how long we were stuck in there because there were no windows to determine if it was night or day to keep track of time.. but it seemed like an eternity… They hardly fed us and I’m surprised either of us survived as long as we did.” She took a breath and Joe patiently waited for her to finish. “Yesterday… at least I think it was yesterday… Well, they took me to a chamber where they..” She choked up and shook her head, squeezing her eyes she and she abruptly sat up, holding her head in her hands. “I can’t, I-I can’t do it. Don’t make me say it... If I say it, then that means it's really real.” she begged, but she wasn’t close to tears. No, she was out of tears to shed, and she just sounded broken. She didn't sound like she was just hurting, her whole being was cracked and Casey wasn’t sure if her sanity would last.

“Whoa, Casey It’s alright, just relax. You don’t have to tell me, just breathe. We’ll figure all this out later.” Joe soothed, placing the rag aside just as Nancy returned into the room. She held a glass full of water in one hand and a plate with a sandwich on it in the other. “Now I know you didn’t ask for anything to eat, but you’re so thin… We need to get some nutrition in you.”

Casey nodded, still hunched over. Still holding her head in her hands. Still keeping her eyes firmly shut. If she opened them, she feared she wouldn’t be in this warm house with these nice people anymore. She’d be back with Dakota in those dank cells. But… maybe that wouldn’t be so bad. That place was familiar. Dakota was familiar…. She opened her eyes and looked up, but the warmth was still surrounding her. The light was still there and Joe and Nancy were still looking at her with that look in her eyes… The look of pity that you’d give a beaten puppy. Or the look that you’d give someone who just lost everything. The look that you’d give Casey Willows. “Stop it.” Casey said softly, shaking her head. 

The couple just looked confused, but it was Joe who spoke up. “Stop what, Casey?” He asked, and the look was still there. Laying underneath the confusion and taunting the redhead. 

“Stop looking at me like I’m a kicked puppy. I’m not. I may have been born at night, but it wasn’t last night. I can see what you both are thinking and I want it to stop.” Casey repeated, and for some unknown reason, her anger took over. It was like there was a sudden flare in her gut and the look they were giving her was just gently fanning the flames, the couple watching as it set everything ablaze in its path. 

“Casey we aren’t looking at you li-”

“Yes you are!” She said, her voice raised a little over what it was, and it was a little hoarse. Casey was standing now, wavering a little on her feet but steadying herself quickly. “You’re looking at me like I’m pitiful, and I’m not! I’m just like both of you! I AM NOT PITIFUL!”

Fear flashed in Nancy’s eyes as she caught sight of Casey’s once green eyes flashing gold for a moment. She also caught the confusion shining through the anger. Joe may have been slightly afraid, but he stood his ground, standing. He was taller than Casey, but Casey seemed so much bigger than him with the amount of pure rage practically surrouning her in a bubble.

“You’re right, Casey. You aren’t pitiful. You’re anything but. You’re obviously a strong, independent girl who’s been through a lot. You’ve brought up your walls, and that’s why we are giving you that look. It isn’t pity, it’s shame. Shame for our race because whoever did whatever they did to you was human, and what does that say about us as a whole? That we are cruel by nature.” 

Casey seemed to relax a bit, like a dog lowering its haunches and assessing the situation with a clear mind.  
“We understand you are probably hurting and you need a little space away from us, because you’re still on high alert, but you’ve got to understand that we aren’t here to hurt you. We want to help, and we can’t do that unless you let us.”

Casey looked at him, and she unclenched her fists, which she had been unaware she had balled in the first place and nodded, sitting back down. “Now hush and eat your meal.” Joe added almost jokingly as he took the plate and glass from his wife, who was still frozen in her spot in fear and handing them to Casey before turning on his heel and leading her out of the room.

Casey bit her lip and set the glass on the coffee table, staring at the sandwich a good ten seconds before picking it up and absolutely demolishing it. She nearly choked several times, but just swallowed down a gulp of water and continued. When she had finished, Casey downed the rest of the water and laid back on the couch, her back pressed to the back cushions. She couldn’t sleep if her back was exposed… Nonetheless, she couldn’t seem to sleep now because all she could focus on was the worried whispers of Nancy, and the calmer replies of Joe.

“Her eyes Joe. They were different. They turned gold. She isn’t normal.” 

“I know, Nanc, but she is just scared. I don’t know what exactly happened to her but something changed her and I think I know who did it.”

“You don’t think…”

“I do…”

“But she still could be a danger. Did you see how angry she got? She looked as if she could rip your head off at any moment!” 

“And she didn’t. She has got self control. Didn’t you see how she caught herself and calmed down?”

“I saw, Joe, but what if she isn’t able to calm herself sometime? What if one of us gets hurt?”

“Neither of us will get hurt, honey. I promise.”

There was the soft sound of Joe giving his wife a gentle and reassuring peck on the lips before footsteps entered the room. Casey acted as if she was asleep, slowing her breathing and trying to halt the motions of her eyes, keeping her lids firmly closed. 

There was a moment of silence that dragged on for an eternity, then the clinking of dishes being cleared, then footsteps leaving and silence again. Casey sighed deeply and curled up in on herself a little more. As her thoughts swam in her head, one specifically caught her attention.

She missed her brother.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
Casey had lain in that spot for what seemed like hours before she finally fell asleep, but even in the darkness of sleep, the peace didn't last long.

Casey was taunted by night terrors of ice blue eyes she knew all too well, and the crackling of electrical energy. Once more in the confines of her dream she had to suffer through the agony of the blue ball and the horror of being separated from her caretaker. Her best friend. Her faithful companion. Her brother.

“Shut it down! Shut it-”

“No- Don’t shut it down yet. She’s strong, she can take it.”

“B-But sir, she is going into shock!”

“Shut up! Leave the program running. Besides… we have another test-subject.”

There was a dark chuckle and the burning sensation all over her animal-like form increased by a thousand percent, if at all possibly and Casey soon realized that the blood-curtling, animalistic screeches were emitting from her mouth- or… Muzzle I suppose. 

The scene changed abruptly and suddenly Casey wasn’t the one attached to the tentacles from the glowing orb. It was Dakota, and the paralyzing screams were lower, manlier. 

That just made the agony worse, and now it wasn’t burning Casey felt on every single cell in her being. It was an ache of sympathy because she knew what it felt like, disgust because why would some human redo the same procedure that they used on a failed experiment, and terror because she let him down. After years of Dakota taking the bullet for her, of her taking him for granted, he is putting his life on the line for her.

Casey suddenly realized she could redeem herself, she could help her brother. She could get him out! She ran forwards, only to run into glass, her fingers pressing into the clear surface. She balled her fists and pounded on the glass, even though she knew she would never break it. It must be several inches of some sort of sciency-glass so that it protects the scientists from the radiation that Dakota was being exposed too.

Casey felt tug in her gut and she caught sight of her…. his reflection.

Staring back at her through a faint reflection the glass wasn't a picture of her own face-- instead it was the face of the scientist, crazed blue eyes and all. She felt a laugh bubbling up in her chest, though she didn’t know what exactly was funny. Then she heard a voice- his voice in the back of her mind. “His screams were beautiful weren’t they? A symphony of agony and it's such a melodious tune I could listen to it all day…” murmured his voice. 

“Get out of my head! You sick lunatic! Stop the experiment! You’re gonna kill him!” Casey screamed, absently noting that the other scientists manning the screens were gone-disappeared into thin air. 

“Oh but it isn’t your head! It’s our head, Casey! You're just like me, a perfect mirror image of my brain, my thoughts and feelings-- our thoughts and feelings. You’re so much like me you don’t even realize that /I am you/!”

Casey froze and like she flipped a switch, the orb flickered off and as the voice laughed maniacally in her head, her brain tried to process the image in front of her. Dakota was laying limp on the floor, a fully formed wolf, but he wasn’t breathing. He was still and suddenly the glass wall was gone. She rushed over and kneeled beside him, reaching a hand out to search for a pulse, but she found nothing. Horrified, she stepped back and brought a hand to cover her mouth. She wanted to cry, but the tears wouldn’t come. Only more laughter. Why was she laughing?! Her brother was dead!

Casey tore her eyes away from the scene and realized there was a solid, cool weight in her hand. Looking down, she saw a gun--a pistol to be exact, and as more and more maniacal laughter poured from her lips, she raised the gun, pressing it under her chin.

What was a world without her brother?

What is a world with another sick, insensitive killer?

“Casey~!” It wasn’t His voice again, the scientist's voice in her head. “Casey, wake up~! We’ve still got some fun things to do!”

Casey pulled the trigger, and everything turned white.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Casey! Casey wake up!” Casey shot up like a rocket, looking around wildly at her surroundings. She struggled against the firm hand on her arm and once it released her, she fell off the couch with a thud and a gasp. She scrambled back in fear, finally looking up, expecting to see one of the goons- Tony or Jake- but instead saw Joe. She trembled, adrenaline pumping through the sleep-fog in her head. 

“It’s me, Casey. It’s me, remember?” Joe asked calmly, his palms turned upward to show he wasn’t a threat.

She nodded, and brought one hand up to her chin to inspect for a wound, but found none. The voice in her head was gone, and she took a moment to grasp the thought that it wouldn’t come back. She didn't know she was wrong… She thought it was a dream.

Just a dream…..


End file.
